Utopia
by BountyHunter1009
Summary: Aang and his friends travel to Ba Sing Se in order to share news with the Earth King, but the Dai Li have other plans: to make them exhibits in their heinous "Utopia."  Half credit to neko-chan1313!
1. Chapter 1

Chapter One:

Light poured down in parallel lines, the crimson sun creating what seemed to be invisible fire. The group below- which consisted of four people and two animals- perspired profusely, sweat flowing off of their boiling bodies. They had been traveling for days on end, flying during the day, walking during the night. However, on this day, the last day of their perilous journey, their Flying Bison, Appa, was too tired to continue. Now they walked in plain sight across the barren plain towards Ba Sing Se, or the "Impenetrable City." They brought news of a forthcoming Solar Eclipse, which, if used correctly, would give the other nations the power to end the Fire Nation's wrath. One hundred years! One hundred years of war between the Fire Nation and the world. Now Aang, the new Avatar, as well as his friends Katara the Waterbender, Sokka the warrior, Momo the lemur, Appa the Flying Bison, and Toph the Earthbender, were the only hope for the world.

"If I wanted to be hot, I could've stayed in the desert we just stormed out of!" Toph whined.

She tossed her arms up in the air with disgust, causing a block of solid earth to rise in a massive chunk, propelling the unsuspecting Sokka fifteen feet into the air. His cry filled the silence, and ten seconds later, he returned to the earth with a juggernaut of a thud.

"Nice job, Monkey Brains. You should really get Twinkletoes to teach you how to land on your feet."

Sokka's mouth contorted into a ridiculous shape. One of his eyes twitched, along with his lips and eyebrows. His back was bent into an awkward position, and as soon as he recovered from Toph's wittiness (although he never called her witty out loud), he reached back to retrieve his boomerang. With all the strength an adolescent boy could muster, Sokka threw his weapon straight for Toph's head. As it neared her, Aang flung a pile of earth and a gust of air towards the boomerang, in the hopes that it would stop the object from moving. When the tip of the blade was a hair's length away, Aang's bending knocked the weapon out of the way.

"Did anyone else feel a gush of air?" Toph asked.

As Sokka began to form his classic abashed face, Aang smiled while walking over to him, and jokingly placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Sokka, you have to show respect for my Earthbending teacher. I know she can be a bit of a hassle, but let's face it, she could beat you with one swipe of her hand!"

With that, Aang beamed, showing all of his pearl-white teeth, and awkwardly scooted away. Sokka was once more returning to his gaze of consternation when Toph interjected.

"Nice face Snoozles, I can even _feel _how ugly you are." Toph snickered.

"Yeah- well- at least I'm not blind!"

"Nice one Snoozles, keep 'em comin'."

"She is so… irritating!"

"Sokka?" Toph said.

"What!"

"Ouch."

Sokka lifted his boomerang for a blow that- at least according to his beliefs- would hit Toph smack on target.

"OK, OK, everybody!" Aang jumped in between the two arguing betties. "I think everyone is just a bit overtired! So, how about we get some rest?"

"Twinkletoes, why don't you let _me_ handle this?" Toph cracked her knuckles.

"Umm, _Aang, _how about _I _handle this?" Sokka unsheathed his sword.

At that point, Katara threw herself into the middle of the group. There was visible foam dripping from the corners of her mouth, and it seemed as if steam was pouring out of her particularly small ears.

"Really, guys? Aang, you're the Avatar! Toph, you're the best Earthbender the world has ever known! And, well, Sokka… My point is: you're all acting like a bunch of four-year-olds! Why don't we finish what we started, and keep on walking. The Earth King needs to find out about the Solar Eclipse, and to be honest, I need a vacation from all of you. I'm going to keep on walking towards the Outer Wall, because being the observant group-member, I noticed it on the horizon an hour ago! Now quit your belly-aching, and step lively!"

Aang stepped forward with a solemn face, "Thank you for your wisdom, Katara." He then saluted her with the Air Nomads' gesture, bowing half-way to the ground. As soon as he had finished his attempt at peace, arguing erupted between the Sokka and Toph.

"Sokka, you're still ridiculous!"

"Yeah? Well, Toph, you're just an earth-slider!"

"Thanks!"

"I don't think I can take you anymore, and this time, I'm serious."

"Guys, come on! We need to get to Ba Sing Se!" Aang pleaded.

"I don't care about you, Twinkletoes. I'm not moving from this spot."

"Nice, Toph, very mature!" Sokka glared bitterly.

"Look who's talking!"

Sokka then stormed off towards the desert they had just gotten away from. Then, as quickly as the angst had started, Katara proved herself worthy of the title "mature," and ended it. She launched herself in Sokka's direction, grabbed him by the ear, and singlehandedly dragged him forward, despite his crab-like display of flailing limbs. When Aang saw how Katara was taking control, he quickly got rid of the earth tent Toph had built to block them out, in order to impress Katara.

"Get out, Twinkletoes!" Toph sent Aang flying.

Sighing, Katara bent down and poked Toph's feet. This got her out of her comfort zone, and once this had occurred, she seized the opportunity to grab Toph's ear with her free hand. She stormed over to Aang, producing a cloud of dust as she walked, and placed the now- limp Sokka into Aang's hands.

"Walk." demanded Katara.

With that command in mind, the group marched without another word spoken between any of them; even Appa and Momo were silent. They continued for two hours more until they finally reached the Outer Wall of Ba Sing Se. For days they had attempted to get to this point, and now it was in their reach. The utopia of Ba Sing Se, the Earth King, The Eclipse, the victory in the War; maybe it would all work out, but that was something they would only find out with time.

From the highest point along the wall, the secret police force of Ba Sing Se, the Dai Li, closely watched the group's actions. As the silently seething quartet reached the gate, the Dai Li covertly slithered down the backside of the wall, used Earthbending to open a hole in the ground, and dropped suddenly into it. As they closed the tunnel entrance and glided towards their master's chamber, they smirked gleefully. He would be especially pleased to hear that the Avatar and his friends were having a little row. They knew he'd love to use this rare opportunity to his advantage…


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two:

Walking through the- as Sokka put it- overly huge gate, the group was amazed at the massive size of the blocks of earth that were Ba Sing Se's gates. As they walked through to the other side, they were blinded by the light shooting through the narrow opening between the gates. On the other side, they were met by a ruckus of people shouting at one another. A large congregation was forming around a moving block of earth, and the team of four (plus the two animals) was confused. After a minute of standing still, Toph opened her mouth to clarify what was happening.

"From what I can feel, it's a train. I guess people have to fight to get on. C'mon- I know what to do."

The others were forced to believe her, and they rushed to where Toph was running. After pushing and shoving through the crowd, two massive guards stood in her way, but Toph nonchalantly stood her ground.

"Hey, Rocky, I'm from the Bei Fong family. Would you mind letting us through?" Toph flashed her passport, one of the few items she still had with her from her home. As soon as the guard saw it, he escorted them to the front of the line, the other guard pushing back the angered mass of people in line.

"How'd you do that?" Sokka's mouth was agape.

"Simple- my family's rich!" Toph smirked as the group boarded the train.

A few minutes later, it took off from the station, two Earthbenders propelling the train with their feet. As it exited the station, the group was amazed to see the massive expanse of farmland in front of them. Different plants roamed ground, and after they had past the expansive fields, mountains took control of the scene. Once through the range of mountains, more farmland became visible, until the train finally reached the Inner Wall of Ba Sing Se, the place where no army had been able to reach.

As the group exited the train and were met with a clear view of the city, they could do nothing but stare at the expansive heaven that was the capital of the Earth Kingdom.

"Woah." Ba Sing Se was so enormous that even Sokka couldn't crack a joke (and coming from the guy that could joke about a gigantic sea serpent, that was pretty significant). "This place is huge!" The dark-haired warrior's eyes bulged as he gaped at the streets of the city.

"And it's green!" Aang exclaimed in excitement. "Kind of like a tree!" he raised one eyebrow.

"Because it's big and green?" Sokka grinned at the young Avatar, looking extremely proud of himself.

Aang looked at him awkwardly, "No, more like how the city's one single thing, and the streets and buildings branch out like the tree roots."

Toph snickered. "Great job, dimwit." The blind Earthbender sneered. "I doubt that Twinkletoes would say, 'Because it's big and green!'." Toph scratched her armpits like a monkey as she imitated Sokka.

Sokka glared at Toph. "What was that for?" He yelled, looking extremely embarrassed and irritated.

Aang tried to step in between the two opposing forces, but to no avail. "Hey, calm down you guys!" In a last desperate attempt to break up the oncoming fight, the last Airbender threw himself between Sokka and Toph.

Suddenly, Sokka's head was enveloped in an orb of water. "Help! I'm getting eaten by a giant water demon!" He started struggling and flailing, which didn't help at all, but being the idiot that he was, he didn't realize this, and ended up falling on the ground like a complete fool: as usual. After all, it wasn't like Katara to let her stupid brother escape from her Waterbending.

_Thunk!_ Sokka hit the ground with a loud thud as Aang helped free him from his water prison, Earthbending a spike to pop the delicate water bubble. As Sokka gasped for air, Aang walked over to help him up.

"Thanks, Aang." The swordsman grabbed his friend's hand, which had been extended to him. Once he stood up, Sokka whipped around towards his sister, Katara, and started having an extreme fit.

"What was that for? You could have killed me!" Katara glared at her brother in irritation.

"Well, you don't need to make a huge fuss out of everything!" The brunette girl shot back, an eyebrow twitching noticeably.

Toph sighed. "You're all a bunch of annoying fools. Except," she added, "for Twinkletoes."

"Thanks, Toph." Aang bashfully rubbed the back of his head.

"I was being sarcastic." An awkward silence took over the group. A minute later, Sokka was the one to speak.

"You're the one who started this!" Sokka roared at the Earthbender, visibly annoyed. "So you have no right to talk!"

"Be quiet, Boomerang-face."

"B-b-boomerang-face?" Sokka's sputtering face started turning red from a mixture of embarrassment and anger.

"C-come on, let's all just calm down and enjoy the city!" Once again, Aang was the peacekeeper. "After we find a place to stay, we figure out where to find the Earth King, okay?" The request was so reasonable that no one could refuse. There was a chorus of "sures" as the Avatar and his friends went to look for lodgings in the large city of Ba Sing Se.

The first place they walked through wasn't exactly big and beautiful. The Lower Ring, or the "ghetto" area of the capital, was a real eye opener.

"Wow." This time, it was Aang who gaped, and most certainly not from amazement, but from the surprise of such a poor area. The houses were dull, and most were in major disrepair, and in great need of fixing.

The Middle Ring, where those of the middle class lived, was far nicer than the Lower Ring. There were a large number of restaurants and places to shop, the buildings were in much better shape, and, although not huge, they were a relatively good size and were brighter in color. There seemed to be a lot of life in this part of town: kids played in the streets, peddlers tried to sell their goods to anyone who passed by, and crowds paraded through the streets happily. The groups' hearts beat more, and the air they breathed seemed to be filled with happiness. Even though these people weren't the richest, they seemed to enjoy everything in life that they possibly could. The gang continued walking for an extremely long time, and after a lot of complaining from Toph, they reached the Upper Ring.

Like the whole city itself, the buildings in the Upper Ring were huge. Almost all of them were three stories high, and all had beautiful façades. Some had marvelous columns, others spectacular balconies, but all of them had something that made onlookers stare. In the Upper Ring, extremely snobby people patrolled the streets, and all of them seemed to have upturned noses. At one point, a man in magnificent silk robes was being toted around on a litter by four men, apparently his slaves. As the group walked down the "rich streets" in their dirt-cached gowns and shirts, they felt out of place, and all of them had the sudden desire to clean themselves, even Toph.

"I wonder if finding a place to stay will be an issue?" Aang wondered out loud.

"Can't we just go up to someone and be like 'oh, this is the Avatar, and we fought the Fire Nation, so is there a place to stay?' and see if they believe us?" Sokka put out another one of his stupid ideas, and it was immediately shot down by Katara.

"No, we can't just exploit Aang! Besides, no-one would believe us!"

Of course, Toph was working her witty-magic, as always. She had noticed a woman standing in the middle of the road they were on: she was smiling, and never seemed to close her mouth. Toph eagerly walked up to her, despite the fact that she was a little wigged out by the random woman watching them. She began to make her lip quiver, and made her eyes turn into beady drops of rain.

"Excuse me? I am Toph of the Bei Fong family, and this is Aang, the Avatar. We have traveled for many miles, and we are just so exhausted. I know you probably don't want to help messy kids like us, but please, is there any place we could stay?" The woman that Toph was talking to smiled broadly and nodded.

"Of course! I am honored to be your humble servant, Toph Bei Fong, and I am especially happy to assist the Avatar. Follow me." After a series of twist and turns, the group arrived at a large building. "We're here. I hope it is to your liking."


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three:

The lady- who went by the name of Lijuan- gave them the key to their new home. She had neat black hair, and it was tied in a meticulously shaped knot. Her eyes were hazel, like a blade of sungrass, and her smile was omnipresent. She suddenly turned her head towards Aang, her mouth open, her teeth smiling.

"We were expecting you, Avatar."

"Oh- cool." Aang paused. "Wait- how'd you know we were coming?"

"I hope you enjoy your home in the beautiful Ba Sing Se!" said Lijuan, grinning steadily.

"Yeah, thanks, great, but how did you know we'd be here?"

"Please, enjoy your new home here." Lijuan, still beaming, gracefully strolled over to the doors of the house. Still perplexed by the creepy (Sokka was the only one rude enough to state it outright) woman, the group didn't even notice their new house.

"I think she's a loon!" said Sokka, suspiciously covering his mouth with his hand while covertly eyeing the woman from behind.

"It is not permitted to stare." said Lijuan, as happy as could be.

"Wha- how- I'm telling you, Aang, she's creepy." Sokka whispered.

"Come on, Meatbrain, let's just get inside." Toph retorted.

The house was more like a mansion; spanning three stories high, and –according to Sokka- five Appas across, it was the biggest house Aang, Katara, or Sokka had ever had the opportunity to live in. It had a green terracotta roof, with the siding being rock solid earth. The rock was white, and the doors and windows were all equipped with intricate designs and patterns. Appa and Momo were commanded to stay outside; they were given a barn in the backyard of the house to sleep in. As the rest of the gang stepped inside of the house, they removed their shoes (per Lijuan's instructions), and took in the beauty of their new home.

"It's like a giant pagoda-castle!" Sokka drooled.

"It's just like the Air Temples!" Aang yelled.

"This must've taken years to build!" Katara stated.

"Three and a half, to be precise." said Lijuan, creepily.

"Yeah yeah, it's just a big house. Get over it! You should've see my old place," Toph muttered a few more words under her breath, "_that _was big."

The group angrily stared at Toph (minus Lijuan), but were quickly distracted by the magnificent things they were finding in the house. It was laden with tables, ornate chairs, four beds (each made for two people), kitchen equipment that one could use for anything, as well as an entire room devoted to eating and storing food. The thing that caught Sokka's attention was the meat freezer, which was packed with various meats imported from the different cities of the Earth Kingdom.

"Katara, pinch me! I must be dreaming." A faint trail of saliva was visible at the corner of Sokka's mouth.

Katara promptly punched her brother in the face.

"So, Sokka, you dreaming?" Katara beamed.

Sokka glared tempestuously at his sister.

"Sometimes I really despise you." Sokka walked away.

Katara mentally pat herself on the back, and paraded into the main foyer. Toph was sitting on the floor- her head on a pillow- and was whacking a piece of rock against the wall.

"Is something bothering you, Toph?"

"No, everything is hunky-dory." she sneered sarcastically.

"Well, whatever it is, I'm here for you." Katara smiled.

"Whatever."

Toph hastily stormed out of the room, slamming the door with Earthbending as she left.

"Well that was uncalled for."

Katara, a little on edge, gracefully patrolled around the house until she found Aang on the top floor, and, much to her dismay, he was accompanied by Lijuan.

"Oh, hi, Lijuan." Katara scratched her head.

"Hello, Katara." Lijuan was happy as always.

"Hey, Katara! Lijuan was just showing me the view of the city- wanna see?"

"Oh, sure! That sounds great!" Katara blushed.

The trio walked out onto an ivory balcony, sculpted into the shape of an Earthbender. From the edge, the city rolled out into miles upon miles of expansive buildings and houses.

"It's beautiful." Katara exclaimed.

"Just like you." Aang muttered, sighing deeply as he did.

"What did you say?"

"Who, me? Nothing." Aang chuckled awkwardly, quickly looked away, and smacked himself on the head.

"I think I'll leave you two alone now," Lijuan said uncomfortably. "Be downstairs in five minutes, I'm going to take you on a tour of the city!"

"Sure thing, Lijuan!" Aang yelled. Lijuan walked away.

"This place is heaven, don't you think, Aang?"

Aang was staring at Katara, "Heaven? Yeah- definitely!" he cast a sideways glance, yelling at himself.

A few minutes later they headed downstairs, picking up Sokka on their way. He was shoving brown- pebbles of food down his throat, something he claimed to have found in his bedroom.

"Umm… Sokka?" Aang looked at him suspiciously.

"You want some? They're delicious!"

"Sokka… those are ratmonkey pellets." Aang smiled tediously.

As Aang said "pellets" Sokka's brain clicked, and the hysterically laughing pair on either side of him had to dodge the projectile pieces of scat being released from his mouth. It took Aang and Katara a few minutes to recover from the merriment.

Aang then put his mouth by Katara's ear and whispered, "I was lying." She immediately cracked up.

"Yeah yeah, laugh all you want at the guy who ate waste."

They eventually reached the lobby, and were met by the oppositely spirited Toph and Lijuan.

"I hope the house is adequate for your needs. I realize the Avatar needs more than the average person!"

"Lijuan, the house is perfect. Thank-you. Now, please lead the way on the tour of the utopian Ba Sing Se!"

The group formally exited their home, retrieved their shoes, and followed Lijuan down a quaint street filled with rich businessmen. She led them from avenue to avenue, and explained the history of anything there was to see. She took them across bridges constructed by previous Avatars, marketplaces designed by farmers themselves, and even took them down a secret tunnel which led to a subterranean crystal cave. At every corner they turned, they were astonished by the perfection of the city, except for Toph, that is, as she was still sulking in the back of the group. In an attempt to cheer her up, Katara informed Toph of Sokka's "scat-candy," however, it only made Toph grin slightly.

"Is this tour over yet?" Toph interrupted their guide as they walked through a marketplace for the umpteenth time.

"It will be quite soon, admirable Toph." Lijuan said, reassuringly.

They puttered around the various market stalls, purchasing things the motley crew deemed worthy. Katara bought a hair-tie, Sokka bought an especially exciting boomerang, and Aang purchased treats for Appa and Momo, who had to stay back at the house. Lijuan accompanied them steadily throughout all of this, and smiled as she always did. After the three had purchased their items, she gathered Toph (who was still moping) and the others, and led them out of the market. As the gleeful group shared the items they purchased amongst themselves, a faint rumbling moved small items around them.

"Guys? I don't really know how to convince you, but there's a really big beast coming towards us." Toph pointed suspiciously in the direction of the vibrations she felt with her feet.

With no more warning than that, a massive bear the size of a market-stall jumped straight at Sokka.

"No!"

"Gah!"

"Please don't hurt me, Beary!"

It took Sokka down, and vigorously pounded into the nearby cabbage cart. The cabbage merchant (who wasn't having such a great day) yelled viciously.

"My cabbages!"

Sokka wriggled his head out from under the bear (who was now chowing down on the jade, leafy vegetables), and frowned at the now laughing pedestrians. As his sister and friends realized that the bear was only after the food, they started to laugh as well.

"Wow, Boomerang Brains, what a day! Scat-candy, _and _a bear-hug!" Toph giggled.

"Thanks, Toph. You always know how to cheer me up." Sokka said acerbically.

It took the gang awhile to get Sokka out from under the bear (it decided it had better things to do than move from Sokka's chest), and after they had, Lijuan explained how it was the Earth King's bear, Bosco. She then signaled for a few Dai Li agents to escort the bear back to the palace. They did so swiftly and carefully, being especially diligent as not to harm the creature.

Sokka dusted off his shoulders, "Who were those officers?"

"They are called the Dai Li. They are the protectors of Ba Sing Se's cultural heritage." Lijuan happily stated.

No more questions were asked by the group as they solemnly, sometimes laughing silently to themselves about Sokka. The tour ended at the Royal Palace, and as they approached it, the silence was broken.

"Wow." the group simultaneously said.

"The Palace was built right at the beginning of Ba Sing Se, and it is the most outstanding and grandiose building. It houses the royal family, as well as its many servants. The Earth King performs all of his work from the Palace, and is never required to leave! He also entertains guests and esteemed visitors to the city, and loves to dance with Bosco."

"Would it be possible for him to see us? We really need to tell him something about the war!"

For the first time in the groups' presence, Lijuan frowned.

"War? What war? There is no war within the walls of Ba Sing Se!" her face returned to normal.

The two faces of the men in the group contorted into outrageous shapes.

"No war?" they bellowed. "What do you mean no war?"

"Please, the Earth King is very busy. You can file a letter with the Palace to say you would like to meet him. Is that in your best interest?"

Sokka would have gone on yelling for hours, but Katara took control of the situation.

"Yes, that would help us out very much. How do we do that?"

"I will pass it on to my colleagues. If all goes well, the Earth King should be able to see you in about a month!" Lijuan seemed especially pleased with her handling of the situation, and was about to escort them back to their home, as she was nervous another outbreak would occur in the group after breaking the news to them.

"Please, follow me back to your home."

Aang and Katara pinned Sokka's mouth shut after Lijuan told them the news, and angrily followed in their leader's footsteps. As they did so, with Toph traipsing behind, Sokka began to foam at the mouth. His finger pointed down an alley, and as the two people restraining him followed his appendage, they noticed nothing but a young man walking down the street away from them…


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four:

"Ugh, this place is disgusting." Toph griped from where she sat on the dirty floor.

Actually, dirty and disgusting were probably understatements. The floor, which had originally been a moderately light grey, was now nearly black from dirt, dust, and other grime. There was mold and moss growing on spots that had somehow gotten wet (probably from the small water leaks in the ceiling), which were covered in cobwebs. The air was dank, musty, and stagnant, as if it had been trapped in the prison for years, and to make things worse, there were rats, spiders, and a large assortment of bugs crawling around. Absolutely vile, unsanitary, and putrid would describe the prison quite fittingly.

Toph glared at Sokka. "It's all your fault that we're in this horrid prison cell, dipstick." She snarled at him, "If you hadn't attacked that guy, then we wouldn't have gotten into this mess!"

Toph glared upwards, looking back on the events that led to their current arrangement.

"Ow!" Sokka winced as he stretched his back, making a few large cracking sounds, "Stop touching me! I was the one who got mauled, remember? Why does it always have to be me?"

"Because you were the one who was in its way" Katara said, stubbornly. Immediately re-covering Sokka's mouth with her hand.

"Wait!" The swordsman whisper-screamed, pointing his finger towards an alley. "Isn't that Zuko? What's he doing here?" Before anyone could answer, Sokka had his boomerang off of his back and in his hand, and ran towards the person he claimed to be Zuko.

"SURPRISE ATTACK!" Katara smacked her forehead at her idiot brother as he launched a 'surprise' attack. Much to Sokka's dismay, there were hidden guards, and Sokka was immediately restrained.

"Let go! I'm trying to protect you people from Zuko!" Sokka began flailing his arms in a somewhat childish fashion, almost whacking one of his capturers in the face. "Zuko" turned around, and once the swordsman from the Water Tribe saw his face, he immediately stopped his ridiculous show.

"Y-y-you're not Zuko?"

Clearly "Zuko" wasn't actually Zuko at all, but was instead a guy with a very babyish face. The guards started dragging Sokka away, and more men appeared and grabbed Aang and the others.

"I still can't believe you did that….." Katara sighed, already embarrassed to even know the fool who had gotten them locked up, much less be related to him.

"But he looked exactly like Zuko from the back!" The perpetrator protested very loudly.

"Hey, get up!" One of the guards yelled at Toph, Aang, Sokka, and Katara, making them all scramble to their feet. The door was roughly swung open and the gang quickly exited the positively vile cell, quite happy to leave the horrid space. However, the next room that they were shoved in wasn't paradise either.

The room, while not quite completely putrid, was not very pretty either. There wasn't much to say about the décor (seeing as there was none) aside from a few chairs, which Aang and the others were ushered over to sit in.

"What's going on?" as usual, Sokka was completely confused.

"We're being questioned because you can't seem to keep control of your manliness." Katara snapped at him, kicking him in the shin.

"Ow!" Sokka glowered at his sister.

"Hey, calm down!" Aang frantically attempted to appease the feuding siblings. "I'm sure that they'll understand if we calmly explain everything to them!"

"And if they don't- we can just beat them until they believe us." Toph interjected.

"Enough!" Everyone looked up to see a man walk in. "Now, I would like to hear your reason for coming to Ba Sing Se, and why you attacked a member of the aristocracy."

"Well," Toph started, "this idiot," she pointed at Sokka, "thought that the Mr. Rich who he attacked was this guy from the Fire Nation named Zuko." Toph looked thoughtful for a minute, later adding, "Who also happens to be a complete lunatic." And with that, she sat back, looking very proud of herself.

"Yeah, that's essentially what happened." Aang chimed in. "We came to Ba Sing Se to tell the Earth King that there is a solar eclipse we can use to defeat the Fire Nation, and-"

"There is no war."

"Eh?" Sokka stared at the questioner in disbelief. "Why does everybody around here keep saying that? You're a complete Babble-Monkey!"

"By silencing talk of conflict, Ba Sing Se remains a peaceful, orderly utopia-the last one on Earth." He replied coolly. "Speaking of war will only cause confusion and chaos, and since the war will undoubtedly not affect Ba Sing Se, there is no need to talk about it."

"But," It was Katara's turn to speak. "isn't it the Earth King's job to decide that?"

"Agreed, but if you Numbskulls would listen to what the guy is saying, it's easy to conclude that he must be controlling the King. Or the King's an idiot. Or both." Toph said nonchalantly.

"Heh heh." Aang laughed awkwardly. "Come on, Toph, you know you shouldn't talk about the Earth King like that…" Aang started looking frantic again as he turned to the person questioning them. "She really didn't mean to insult him!"

"Yeah I did." Toph said blatantly.

"No matter, the King means nothing to me. Besides, I have no real reason to keep you detained: as of now. However, if you even mention the War to anyone once, I can assure you, I have all the reason to detain you, and more! So get going." He motioned towards the door, and the gang got up.

Walking towards the entrance of the prison building, Sokka's eye started to twitch. "I thought that it was a nice city!" He huffed, clearly irritated by his treatment by not only the bear, but also by the police.

"Everything's fine, Sokka." Aang tried to sound encouraging and cheerful, but for some reason, he had a horrible feeling that something bad was happening.

As Aang, Sokka, Toph, and Katara walked through the doors to the city, some sort of black substance began to finely dust them.

"What is this stuff?" Toph looked annoyed since she couldn't see the falling black flakes. Aang, Sokka, and Katara all looked towards the sky in horror.

"No… I thought that Ba Sing Se was safe!" Katara whispered.

"Apparently not." Sokka replied, gloomily.


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter Five:

"What's going on?" Toph, for the first time since she joined the group, looked worried.

"It's the Firenation," Sokka replied. "They're here."

The group then ran as fast as they could towards the entrance of the city. Ash was falling everywhere, and as they approached the gates the coating grew thicker and thicker. Between the ash pouring down on them and the swarms of people running into them, it was almost impossible to navigate the city.

"C'mon!" Aang shouted, "Let's go this way!"

The group veered down a side street, and as they did, Aang bore down on his Bison Whistle, silently praying to the spirits that Appa would find them. A few minutes later, it was discovered that Toph was missing! Sokka quickly ran back to find her, and was relieved to find her squatting under a wooden crate.

"Is that you, Toph?"

"Yeah, Blondie, just get me out of here!"

"Oh-yeah-sure!" Sokka grabbed Toph and threw her over his shoulder, "Is there anything you want to say to you Sokka?" Sokka grinned.

"Yeah! Get us the heck out of here so I can whoop some Firenation butt!"

Sokka sighed, but quickly recovered. He ran the way the group had come, and met up with Aang a few minutes later. There was still chaos and disorder all around them, but the group managed to keep it together.

"We have to get to the wall and help the guards keep the troops out!" Aang shouted, trying as hard as he could to be heard over the roar of the people yelling all around him.

After Aang had stopped talking, the group silently agreed, and ran off once more. More and more people were running by them, blood-curdling shrieks and jeers becoming increasingly common. After what seemed like hours of running, the Inner Wall was finally visible.

"We made it!" Sokka shouted.

As smiles spread across the faces of the group, Katara, yet again, was the one to reveal the truth.

"Guys," Katara looked solemnly upwards, using her arms to bend water into a sphere, "look up."

Their heads glanced vertically upwards, and their eyes were turned to a dark maroon. In the reflection of their corneas was nothing less than fifty fireballs.

"Great! Prison, black snow, and fireballs- my day has just been made." Sokka said sarcastically, taking out his boomerang in the process.

"Get over it, Meatbrain. Let's do this."

Toph subsequently threw herself into the air, landing with a massive crash. She used her bending to shift the earth at her will, making it propel her like a rocket. The others, who were filled with mixed emotions, quickly followed her lead. Katara slid on an ice sleigh, Aang followed Toph's example, and Sokka simply ran, trying as hard as he could to keep up.

The fireballs came down upon them steadily, making it extremely hard to perform the simplest of tasks. The stream of people screaming was finally starting to thin out, however, the stream of fireballs was becoming greatly augmented. As they were in the Lower Ring (where the poor lived), the houses were made of frangible materials, and as the balls of flame came within a ten foot distance, they were instantaneously obliterated. Shrapnel and house fragments shot this way and that, making the group's efforts that much more difficult. Finally, when they thought they could get no further, they reached the famous Inner Wall.

"Hang on!" Toph yelled. She promptly shoved them aside, took a firm stance in the ground, and with little effort, tore a massive chunk of earth out from under them. She lifted her arms up and kept them there, propelling the team of four vertically upwards until they reached the top of the wall.

"No, it's all right, Twinkletoes, I don't need your help at all!" Toph looked away angrily.

"Now is no time to joke!" snapped Katara.

Sure enough, she was right. The group rushed over to the edge of the wall to meet a battalion of Earthbenders. They informed them that the opposing forces were at the Outer Wall, but were extremely close to breaking through. The group then quickly launched themselves off of the Inner Wall and were met by their massive Flying Bison.

"Appa!" Aang shouted.

Appa moaned, allowed the gang to jump onto his broad back, and slapped his tail onto the wall, lifting his gargantuan body into the air. They flew over the surrounding farm land, the mountains, and the lakes, all the time being forced to perform last minute maneuvers to avoid oncoming fireballs. Finally, after what seemed like a decade, they reached the Outer Wall. They jumped off Appa, and as they peered over the edge (dodging a particularly well aimed fireball), their eyes were met by a sight truly horrific. In front of them was a fleet of firenation tanks, catapults, Komodo Rhinos, war balloons, and a massive force of infantry at least two miles across. As the small group of four stared blankly at the oncoming force, the battalion next to them was flinging any kind of projectile they could at the firebenders. However, this seemed to make no dent whatsoever to the army, and the battalion quickly deserted their post.

"What do you think you're doing?" Aang yelled, a slight hoarseness audible in his jeer.

"Oh! Hi, Mr. Avatar! Surely you can defeat these people by yourself! I mean, it's not like they're Firenation! There is no war, so obviously, they couldn't want to harm anybody! So, please, do your duty, and we will leave you alone!" with that, the battalion walked away, and the quartet was forced to face an entire army singlehandedly.

Toph created a tent made of earth in order to protect them from the imposing attack force. "Sokka, what should we do?" Aang stared hopefully at his companion.

"How should I know?"

"Well, I'm the peacekeeper, Katara is the planner, Toph is the fighter, and, well, you're the brains when it comes to fighting!" Aang chuckled, "Huh- guess I never thought I'd say that…"

"Well, I guess I can avoid the ridicule, seeing as the situation calls for it," his eyebrow twitched, "Maybe we could attack them from behind!"

"Yeah- sure, four against a few thousand. Got any other ideas?" Toph asked scornfully.

Sokka put his thumb and index fingers onto his chin and stroked it.

"I got it! Aang, you know how there's that zoo right outside the Inner Wall?"

"Sokka?" Katara's smile turned into a frown, her arms beginning to flail like an overtired baby. "How is that even remotely related to the fact that the city is being sieged by an army?" Katara's face looked like an overripe raspberry.

"I know you don't like to agree with me, Katara, but hear me out. If Aang used his whistle to attract all of the animals, they would create a stampede to try and follow the sound, right?"

"Right, so? Are we going to defeat the firenation with loveable zoo animals?" Aang looked befuddled.

"Precisely! The army will be so confused when a massive herd of beasts comes straight for them, they won't know what to do!" Sokka smiled, one hundred percent sure he had saved the day.

"I have to hand it to you Sokka, that's one of the first valid points I've heard come out of your mouth! Very good!" Toph snickered.

Sokka started to open his mouth, but was too irritated to come up with a retort.

"Aang, go herd the animals. Katara and I will try to destroy some of the tanks! Toph, open the gate when Aang gets close; we can't have the Firenation getting in, but we also need to let the animals out! Team Avatar, go!"

"Really? Team Avatar?" Toph played fetch with herself, the speech being boring beyond belief for her.

"Just cut me some slack." Sokka scratched his head.

The team then dispersed, Katara and Sokka having Toph deliver them safely to the ground, and Aang traveling back towards the city.

By the time Aang reached the zoo, he had no idea how he would have the strength to get the entire stampede all the way to the Outer Wall. However, he knew it was what he had to do. He inhaled for an entire minute, his mouth as wide as a watermelon, and blew onto his whistle. A shockwave was sent out in a ring, traveling at the speed of sound in every direction. The zoo animals, who up until that moment had been screaming at the sight of fireballs, stopped their moaning. The sound the whistle produced was aggravating to all of them, and it made something in their small brains click. All of a sudden, a stampede formed, and a massive cloud of dust formed where the mass of animals ran.

They ran as if they had been for their whole lives, none of the hundreds of animals, big or small, ever becoming tired. Aang blew on his whistle every so often as to remind the animals that they needed to continue running. To keep ahead of the swarm, Aang created his infamous airscooter, gliding along the ground like it was a river. After ten minutes of herding the animals, Aang was getting the hang of things. If a fireball came within a fifty yard radius of any of the animals, he shot it down with a blast of air, so as to not disturb the otherwise peaceful beasts. He looked ahead of him, and became shocked to find that he could only see the faint outline of the Outer Wall on the horizon.

"C'mon, Katara! Bend that tank down!" Sokka cheered on his sister as she created a massive tsunami from the rivers outside of the city. After visiting the North Pole earlier that year, she had become a much more powerful bender. Every time she moved her hands a massive juggernaut of force was born. Tank after tank was sliced in half, the men inside being taken down with them. Sokka had tried to slice at the tanks with his boomerang in the beginning, but it simply ended with him getting whacked in the face with his own weapon. From then onwards, it was his sister who destroyed the tanks, and she did so with a gusto not seen in her by anyone.

"Sokka! Is Aang here yet?" she yelled.

"Toph! Is Aang here yet!" Sokka shouted.

At the top of the tower, Toph was taking a nap. She told herself that she would be able to feel a massive stampede coming towards her, so she took the opportunity to rest her weary eyes. She heard Sokka's voice, and after a minute or two of him shouting, the thought of him being in trouble actually hit her.

"What?"

"Is Aang coming?"

Toph quickly glanced towards the city and was shocked to find how close Aang was. With no more than a second to spare, Toph used all of her strength to open the gates. Aang and his stampede were finally through the Outer Wall! As soon as the last animals were past the wall, Toph sealed the blocks of earth, and jumped off of the wall. She smacked into the earth with a bang, one hand and one knee making contact with the ground. She rose, cracked her knuckles, and uttered a few words.

"Finally! I was thinking you ditched me, Twinkletoes! Now, which of you Pansy Flame-Freaks wants to mess with the Blind Bandit?"

Sokka's plan was actually working. The animals created a diversion that lasted long enough for Aang, who had recently mastered the Avatar State, to get into his namesake mode. His tattoos became a blue so pure that the army had to shield their eyes. He rose up into the air on a massive cyclone, massive pieces of earth being propelled counterclockwise around the tornado. From the rivers below him he produced snakelike streams of water, which he then attached to his arms. With his three forms of bending, along with earth and waterbending masters, the newly named Team Avatar was next to undefeatable.

Aang lashed out in all directions: earth, water, and air obliterating any sign of the firenation in sight. Boulders dented and destroyed catapults and tanks, water, as well as ice, shattered and sliced through war balloons one by one, and gale force winds extinguished any fires in a mile radius. On top of all of this, Toph was doing her thing on the ground. She used the earth to create a body-shield and shot boulder after boulder at the oncoming infantry. By her side Katara was using all of the waterbending techniques she had learned over the years. She used icewhips, massive waves, and even blasted a tank sky-high with a geyser like move, all in the hopes of defeating the army. In a matter of minutes, heavy machinery lay in ruins at the trio's side, and the only things left were the infantry. Sokka took this opportunity to get away from the sidelines, and ran as fast as he could toward the oncoming men.

He lashed out with his boomerang and sword, knocking down man after man with his skills. After successfully beating fifty soldiers, he ran over to meet the others. Then, with Aang in the Avatar State, and the other three down on the ground, they pushed back the entire army by one hundred yards. By this time, the men in the army were so frightened at what was happening, that they decided it would be fitting to retreat.

"Yeah, you better run!" Sokka jeered.

He chased the last of the men off of the battlefield, and turned around to meet his team. Aang's tattoos stopped to glow, and he collapsed on the ground, exhausted. As soon as he had recovered, he got the group to simply turn around, and walk back to the city.

"We have to tell the Earth King. It's that, or the fate of this city is in the hands of the Fire Nation."


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter Six:

Black. That one single word could describe how Ba Sing Se appeared. Everything from buildings, to trees, to carts were covered in a thick layer of pitch-black ash. Not only was every surface covered in soot, but there were buildings that had been set ablaze, most with citizens frantically attempting to put them out. The so-called utopia was now destroyed.

Everyone looked as though they were panicking completely. Some people, their faces stricken with the deepest confusion imaginable, were shaking, while others simply looked distraught. The Dai Li seemed to be struggling to figure out how to control the situation, but to no avail. None of the people in any district of the humongous city seemed to hear a word that the distressed secret police said. Throughout the entire city, there were only two people who were calm: the King, and the leader of the Dai Li, Long Feng, who was whispering into the king's extended ear. After Long Feng straightened back up, the king of Ba Sing Se cleared his throat. He walked over to his balcony (off of the throne room), coughed once more, and began to speak in a lively and giddy manner.

"People of Ba Sing Se." His voice was mysteriously projected throughout the whole city. "Please be calm. This was not an actual attack from the Fire Nation. That would be preposterous! It was only a practice drill for the soldiers, because, as we all know, an invasion would indeed be impossible. There has been some damage, but do not worry, for all is fine." All around Aang and his friends were comments of "yes, that makes sense" and the like. Obviously, Aang was extremely angered by this blatant lie.

"It's not fine!" The Airbender shouted, "That really was the Fire Nation!" This little outburst earned the young Avatar a few dirty looks from the people around him. Sokka patted the angry Aang on the shoulder.

"Everyone here trusts you so much that they're blinded by their own stupidity! It's almost as if you'd all be too stupid to see a lie, even if it slapped you right across your face!" Sokka blared.

"You're one to talk, Boomwad." Toph shot at the swordsman, whose face distorted into an angry frown. Sokka tried to think of a retort.

"Don't try to think too hard. We don't want you to strain it too much. Besides," The Earthbender continued with her string of insults, "brains aren't everything. In fact, in your case, they're nothing." This comment infuriated Sokka even more.

"Well, at least I'm not…" Sokka stopped to think. "Blind!" He pointed a finger at Toph, looking extremely smug.

"Amazing." She said, sarcasm practically dripping from her words, "That was a _great_ comeback. I don't know what makes you so dumb, but it really works."

"Stop fighting!" Katara pulled the two warring teens apart. "Let's just go and-" She looked towards where Aang had been standing. "You guys, where's Aang?"

"Uh oh…."

The enormous doors that were the entrance of the Palace were blown open with a slam by a very angry Aang, who stomped right in after it. The guards who had been standing next to the doors looked at him menacingly.

"Stop-!" The guard who had spoken was blown away effortlessly by the infuriated Avatar, making the other tremble in fright. Ignoring them, Aang walked by.

After about ten minutes of searching, Aang finally thought that he had found where the king was, but as it turned out, he was dead wrong. The door that he had just opened revealed the one thing he'd been praying to not come across. In the room he stood in was Long Feng, sitting in a chair, one leg crossed over the other.

"Welcome back." The man smiled evilly. "I am sad to say this, but I can't let you continue wandering around the Palace willy-nilly." He snapped his fingers and some members of the Dai Li appeared from their hiding places, quickly immobilizing Aang. "I can't let you tell the King about the war. After all, that would completely destroy the perfect utopia that I've worked so hard to create."

"Ba Sing Se is no utopia!" Aang continued to struggle against his captors. "You're just lying to all of the people in the city!" The Airbender yelled, angry that so many innocent people were being hurt for this fake peace.

"How is it any worse than having to participate in the War? Wouldn't this be much better than having to lose your life in a battle that hardly even concerns you?" Long Feng added.

Aang opened and closed his mouth, seeing the point that Long Feng had, and, wanting to argue, was unable to find a good and legitimate retort.

"But don't they have a right to know what's going on? I know you know they should be able choose what they want to do!"

"Be quiet." Long Feng had a stony look on his face. "I hope that you do realize the position you're in." Aang gulped deeply, subsequently putting on a brave face. Long Feng looked towards one of the men restraining the Airbender. "Take him to the prison."

The man saluted Long Feng, then roughly yanked Aang to get him to follow, leading the teenage boy to the prison.

"Argh! Where did Aang disappear to?" Sokka was starting to get frustrated after spending the last twenty minutes searching for his friend. He looked towards the Palace. "Maybe we should go to the Palace and ask."

"Are you always this stupid, or are you making a special effort today, Ponytail?" Toph snapped at Sokka. "We would probably get attacked by the Dai Li if we went there."

"But what if Aang went there? We can't just abandon him!" he retorted immediately walking in the direction of the enormous Palace.

"You can't just barge right in without a plan, Blondie!" The Earthbender yelled after him, then muttered to herself, "He just doesn't know the meaning of the word "fear"-but then again, he doesn't know the meaning of most words." Katara patted her friend on the shoulder with a sympathetic look on her face as the two started to walk to catch up to the hot-headed swordsman.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter Seven:

"I can't believe I'm back in prison!" Aang jeered at himself, shooting an air blast into the wall of his cell from his wide-open mouth. His wrists and ankles were completely cuffed, and his neck was in a brace. The blockades attached to his limbs were chained to the ceiling fifty feet in the air, and he was being heavily guarded by Dai Li agents.

"It's not like _I'm _the one doing anything wrong!" Aang attempted to stare at all of the policemen around him, but his attempt was faltered by his neck guard.

"Silence!" The Dai Li seemed to say in precise unity. "You are to be silent until further notice. Once you have met with Long Feng, I'm sure he will really get you talking." One of the agents smiled.

"What are you talking about? I didn't even do anything!" Aang tugged at his braces.

At that precise moment, the agents jumped gracefully from their posts, marched into two lines, and silently left the room. As soon as they had left, a man entered the vast space.

"Although I told you this before, I guess I just _have _to tell you again. You and your little friends are attempting to destroy the delicate balance the Dai Li and I have tried so hard to create!"

Long Feng, a tall man, had jet-black hair, a ponytail, and a receding hairline. As he paced around the room, circling in on Aang, his green robes glimmered, flailing around lazily wherever they pleased. As he got closer to Aang, the Airbender inhaled deeply, and promptly attempted to throw Long Feng into the wall with a massive tempest of air. Despite this, Long Feng saw what Aang was trying to do, and created a block of earth a foot in front of him to block the attack. Then, before Aang could open his mouth again, Long Feng grabbed the avatar by the handcuffs.

"Before you can start blatantly shouting tomfoolery, I suggest you come with me."

The Dai Li overlord cast a gag out of earth and shaped it to fit Aang's mouth. The Airbender started to choke, gag, and drool, but Long Feng didn't release the trembling boy. To make his job easier, Long Feng placed an earth-blindfold on Aang, and then shoved Aang's hands behind his back after having released the cuffs. The pair walked for a while more, and just when Aang thought he might faint, the footsteps died down, and the blindfold came off.

"I don't care if the Dai Li stop us; we have to at least try the Palace!" Sokka yelled. "We've checked every single place in this entire city and haven't found him!"

"Really, Sokka? You think we've checked _everywhere_?" Katara interjected.

"Well, everywhere that's important!"

"Have we checked the water towers?"

"The sewers?" Toph joined in.

"People's houses?"

"The zoo?"

"Everywhere?"

Sokka paused, pointed his finger in the air, and then shrugged his shoulders together. "Who's side are you guys on?" Sokka's face was becoming possessed with consternation.

"Don't worry, Blondie, I'm sure Twinkletoes'll show up somewhere." Toph gave him a sympathetic shove, sending Sokka ten feet back.

"You know- you're really not a nice person." Sokka glared heavily at his companion. "Let's just head over to the Palace."

As Aang's eyes recovered and he began to see shapes form, he didn't like what he saw. Dai Li were in eyesight no matter which way he looked, and Long Feng stood watching over him. They were in a massive cavern of crystal, and Aang couldn't even see the top of the ceiling. In the center of the circular prison was a chair, and he could only guess that he was going to end up chained up in it. It seemed as if the Dai Li heard his thoughts, and immediately removed his current restraints so they would be able to throw him into the chair. Before they could take this opportunity away from him, Aang removed his Bison Whistle from his pocket, and blew down on it with all of the strength he could muster.

"What is that?" Long Feng shouted, the Dai Li already grabbing Aang.

"You'll see." Aang said, immediately taken and thrown into the chair.

The Dai Li attached the restraints on every part of his body as soon as he was settled. After locking everything on the chair with Earthbending and gagging Aang, every agent but Long Feng left the room. He positioned himself so he was directly in front of Aang, and stared into the Avatar's soul.

"Hello again, Aang." Long Feng revealed his especially sharp teeth.

He closed his mouth after a minute, and then grabbed hold of a large lantern that was next to him.

"I'm sure you'll enjoy what I'm about to do," he paused, "quite thoroughly."

He stomped his foot onto the earth floor, which, in turn, sent the lit lantern on a circular path.

"There is no war." Long Feng kept the lantern circumnavigating the chair, its pattern becoming hypnotic.

"What are you doing?" Aang choked through his gag.

"There is no war in the entire world."

"Stop!" Aang tried to shake free of his chair.

"You are safe in Ba Sing Se. No Fire Nation can harm you here."

"Please…" Aang whimpered.

"You are safe from everything in the utopian Ba Sing Se."

Long Feng spoke more and more, almost convincing Aang of the obscenities the Dai Li officer was offering. As Long Feng talked, a faint rumble in the cavern quickly escalated to a shaking. The officer began to sweat, not completely sure what to make of the now-vibrating-cavern. At one point, when the shaking became a roar, he looked up, but otherwise, he stared straight at Aang.

"There is no rumbling in Ba Sing Se." said Long Feng, desperately.

Before Aang could respond, a massive explosion shook the crystal surrounding the pair. Green pieces of still-glowing-crystal cascaded vertically downwards until they were met with a crack at the ground, and a cloud of dust formed high above them.

"What is _this_?" Long Feng's face turned bright red, and he quickly signaled for the Dai Li to rush into the room.

From the cloud of dust emerged a great beast, and from what Long Feng could see, it looked as if it was flying. It had wings, massive ears, and terrible teeth. It opened its mouth, and a pounding roar vibrated throughout the entire cavern. As Aang saw his captor confused, he took the slim chance he had of releasing himself. He blew as hard as he could on the gag, and somehow managed to destroy whatever it was that was keeping it lodged on his face. He then, remembering how he was locked _in _with Earthbending, tried Earthbending himself out. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and then clenched his hands. In a matter of seconds, the restraints lay by his side, and his arms and legs were free. Before Long Feng or the Dai Li (who had entered the room) could do anything to stop him, he launched himself into the air, gliding from side to side of the cavern on the tips of his toes. The great beast above him chirped cordially, and as Aang realized what it was, he smiled profusely.

"Momo!" Aang shouted as loud as a three year old cry.

He launched himself to greet his pet, and was even more thrilled to see Appa emerging from the cloud of dust. As Aang threw himself onto the massive bison, the people below became angry.

"You fools! Stop them!" Long Feng commanded.

The Dai Li crept up the walls as fast as they could, using their bending to accelerate the process. Unfortunately for them, Aang and his animals had already escaped. The policemen followed the path as quickly as they had scaled the wall, and were saddened to find that it opened up to daylight. As the guards all filed out of the hole, the giant Flying Bison could be seen a mere one hundred feet away. On the great beast were Aang, his friends, Momo, and to everybody's complete surprise: the Earth King.


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter Eight:

"Hey, you guys?" Aang looked towards Sokka, Katara, Toph, and the Earth King with a very confused expression on his face. "Why is the Earth King here?"

"Well, it's a long story and I'm already kind of tired..." Sokka sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck, and after doing this, was consequently smacked on the head by his sister. "However, now that I've been obligated, we may as well tell you." Sokka gave Katara a stern look.

"Yep, Aang was definitely here." Toph, Katara, and Sokka stared at the huge pair of doors that had been blown off of its hinges, presumably by Aang.

"Twinkletoes should seriously learn how to manage his anger." Toph said nonchalantly.

Sokka snorted. "You're one to talk."

"Now's not the time to be fighting, you guys!" An intervention by Katara managed to calm the two down. "We have to find Aang!"

"And talk to the Earth King!" Sokka chimed in.

Toph cracked her knuckles. "Whatever. But if he doesn't listen to us, then I'm just gonna have to beat some sense into him."

"Let's just try to avoid ruining the only chance we have with him by pummeling people to death, OK?" Both Sokka and Toph nodded in agreement (eventually). However, despite the agreement the trio had just made, the group was quickly forced to resort to violence.

"Why the heck are there so many guards?" Sokka yelled as he sprinted from the mass of soldiers who were chasing them through the halls.

"Because this is the Palace, you idiot! You didn't really expect them to gleefully open their doors to their leader, did you?" An irked Toph snapped at the swordsman as she slammed the palms of her hands on the floor, bending a huge wall of earth to block them from their pursuers. From the grunts and jeers they could hear from behind the wall, they assumed the Royal Guard was stumped, and the group of three relaxed their tense muscles.

"That doesn't mean that they have to chase us!" Sokka managed to gasp out as he tried to catch his breath. Katara roughly grabbed his ear.

"If you didn't go waving your boomerang around, we wouldn't be in this mess, Mr. Stupid-Sword!"

Sokka pouted, embarrassed. "I thought that intimidating them would get them to take us to the Earth King." he rubbed his arms with shame.

Toph slammed her foot into the ground violently.

"Jeez!" She screeched, "I may be blind, but at least I can tell if I'm doing something stupid!"

"I'm sorry." Sokka said silently, his head drooping in a dejected manner.

"Whatever, let's just keep looking for the Earth King and Aang."

"Yeah, Twinkletoes probably went on a rampage. So, based on what I know about him, we should look for a path of destruction and turmoil!" Toph said sarcastically but knowingly.

"I hate to say it, but she's spot on..." Sokka exclaimed as he pointed to what was literally a path of utter destruction.

"Woah."

After following the path of smashed stone, broken glass, and unconscious guards for a while, Katara noticed that the amount of damage was increasing.

"We might be getting closer!" Sokka shouted in excitement, annoying Toph and making her slap him on the back of his head.

"You know: you don't have to be as stupid as you are." The earthbender snapped at him, visibly annoyed by his obvious observation. Suddenly, she stopped walking.

"Huh?" Katara turned around to look at Toph in confusion. "What's wrong?"

"Someone's coming." Toph whirled around, but was met by empty air. "What the...?" she muttered, clearly puzzled by the presence, or lack thereof.

"Hah, getting a bit paranoid are we?" Sokka snickered, fist meeting with nose as Toph angrily socked the male in the face, sending him flying. "Ow!" Sokka immediately recovered, jumping up and spinning around, and saw that the two had started leaving him behind. "Hey! Wait up!" For a second, Sokka hesitated, looked over his shoulder, but immediately waved the thought away, and started running to catch up.

"So, this is where the Earth King is." Looking up towards the huge double doors, Sokka's mouth dropped open. "What kind of person needs doors this big?" he shouted, throwing his arms up in the air in aggravation. "It's absolutely ridiculous!"

"Yeah, it's fantastic, be a lamb and open the door." Toph shoved her finger in Sokka's face.

"Why am I the one who always has to do this stuff?" Sokka mumbled angrily, grunting as he pushed the ridiculously heavy and over-sized doors open. Once the doors were opened, Sokka was met by a surprise; a large, furry, familiar brown surprise.

"Get this stupid bear off of me!" He shouted, pointing a finger at the large brown bear that was in the room. "Why is it following me?"

"My apologies, friends of the Avatar." From behind the bear came the Earth King, his affluent robes shifting this way and that. "I have been informed of your earlier, should I say, 'encounter' with Bosco, and I do apologize; he was hungry, and simply wanted some cabbage. I assure you, Bosco is my dear companion, and he meant no harm." Sokka snorted, not believing him at all, but let out a quiet yelp of pain as his sister gave him a sharp jab in the gut with her elbow.

"Are you the Earth King?" Katara asked politely. The man nodded.

"Then you'll be coming with us whether you want to or not!" Toph declared, not giving the Earth King a choice.

"You mean you're taking me hostage? The Dai Li _did _mention something like this might happen," he stroked his chin, "I always thought the captors would be more… scary? No, that's not the right word…"

"I'm starting to doubt this guy's intelligence." Sokka muttered, earning him a dirty look and another swift jab from his sister.

"Whatever- just grab his arms, twist his legs, and give him a good ol' jab." Toph smirked.

"Toph? How about, seeing as he doesn't seem to care, we simply walk out with him?"

"Fine," Toph bent her shoulders, "but my way is much more fun."

They team then solemnly walked away with the king, and upon request, forced Sokka to escort Bosco alongside of them.

"And then we flew to get you." Sokka concluded in a very anti-climactic manner, not that anyone minded, since it got to the point.

"So he didn't even question you?" Aang was utterly confused.

"Nope! He just said a bunch of jibber-jabber, no offense, Your Majesty, and high-tailed it on over here!" Sokka smiled.

"Anyway," Katara attempted to return the conversation to what was important. "Since we're all here, should we tell the Earth King now?" Katara asked. The Earth King looked extremely confused.

"About how the Dai Li are just using him to control the people, and that they're just feeding him a bunch of lies because he doesn't know any better?" Toph said bluntly.

Sokka pouted. "Hey! Now I can't make another fantastic story!" He was immediately silenced by two extremely annoyed female faces. "S-sorry."

"So," Aang turned to the Earth King, "do you understand?" The Earth King nodded. "Well, I'm not sure I trust you completely. Do you have any other evidence?"

Aang shot his arm into the air and rolled up his sleeve, exposing a black and red bruise in the shape of a palm.

"You see this bruise? It's from the Dai Li's gloves! You know they wear them because I know you've seen them. Does this help at all?"

The king looked over the straight-faced boy a few times, and then nodded. "That seems fairly sufficient, although it is still hard to believe! So, as a final test of this theory, I think we need to go and confront the Dai Li publically." Everybody nodded in agreement, and Sokka turned to whisper in Toph's ear.

"Yep, he's definitely not the sharpest blade in the fort."

Toph glared straight at him. "Wow, Blondie, wow."


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter Nine:

Landing back in Ba Sing Se, Aang and his friends were greeted by some not-so-happy Dai Li members, along with an especially displeased Long Feng.

"How dare you stoop so low as to kidnap the Earth King!" Long Feng hissed, worried that the Avatar had explained their evil situation to the Earth King. Unluckily for Long Feng, the team had done just that. After all, why else would anybody have a long and extensive conversation high in the sky where it would be impossible for people to overhear them?

"We aren't the ones who've stooped low!" Sokka yelled, fury clearly expressed on his face. "You're the ones who have been using him like a pawn for as long as you've known him!"

"Sokka- calm down!" Katara snapped at him, hoping to get her easily angered and completely foolish brother to be quiet, so as not to allow him to say anything rash or stupid.

"No, I won't be silenced." Sokka expressed a stoic face. "I'm sick of them looking down on us and trying to boss us around! I'd rather die than be ordered around by them!" Sokka grabbed his boomerang off of his back and threw it at the group of people right behind Long Feng.

"Sokka! No!" Katara shrieked, her eyes filled with horror as her brother attacked the Dai Li. The weapon was immediately stopped by one of the Dai Li, one their obligatory gloves (made of solid earth) grabbing hold of the blade before it became remotely close to the men.

Toph smirked. "For once, I agree with Blondie." she slammed her palms down onto the ground, Earthbending spikes under the Dai Li. Five of them were blasted into the air, but being skilled benders, they quickly recovered. The rest of the men entered their attack positions, placing their arms outwards, and facing towards Aang and his friends. Katara then turned to Aang, hoping to get him to help control the violence that her comrades were using against the Dai Li. However, he was also angry, and looked like he was ready to kill.

"A-Aang?"

"Sorry Katara." the Airbender said, fury evident in the slight wavering of his voice. "But I can't stand this kind of injustice." Katara realized that she couldn't win the argument with her three companions, so she sighed inwardly. After an intense staring-contest between the opposing forces, Katara took out water from her pouch, and got into an offensive mode.

"Fine then, we can go and fight the Dai Li together; however, I must tell you that I really do doubt that we're strong enough to defeat them." Katara told Aang, hoping to discourage the thought of trying to attack the group in front of them.

"I think we are." Aang replied, the four words sending a chill up Katara's spine.

"Yeah." Toph piped in, "There's no way that we're letting small fries like them beat us!" Toph swirled her foot in the ground with a firm twist, a small dust cloud forming around her ankles.

"Of course, I'm going to beat the most of them!" Sokka boasted, closing his eyes and smiling in his usual foolish and irritating manner. This comment, a surprise to no one but Sokka, received a swift but painful smack on the back of the head, and again, Toph was the dealer.

"Sure you are. I might even be nice enough to actually listen to you. You know," the Earthbender added, "when you need help because you're getting your butt kicked." Sokka decided (or was too stupid to realize that he was being made fun of) to take it as a compliment, completely ignoring the last part.

"See, Katara?" Aang looked back over to the Waterbender, "We'll be fine." "Whatever, just don't die on me." she looked over towards her brother and Toph, who were already approaching the Dai Li, "And that goes for the two of you also!" she called out to them, and they both returned it with a grin, Sokka's being honest and silly, and Toph's more like that of a fox.

"Don't worry, Katara, Twinkletoes and I will make sure that Boomerang Face here doesn't get his butt whipped too hard!" she wrapped her arm around Sokka's neck in a manner similar to a headlock.

"No way! You'll be the one begging for help!" Sokka squirmed free of his teammates grip.

"Stop this childish bickering!" Long Feng bellowed, distracting Toph and Sokka from their petty argument. "Come at us if you believe that you can triumph over the most powerful benders in the world!"

Toph, Sokka, and Aang all smirked at the leader of the Dai Li. "We don't think it..." Toph started. "We..."

"Know it!" Katara finished for her friend, knowing exactly what she was going to say. Katara had suddenly started looking much more ferocious, and her friends assumed she was getting ready to fight. No more than a second later, Katara snapped into action, and released a veracious whip of water.

"Yeah!" The remainder of the group shouted in unison, excited to go to battle, as they simultaneously dashed at the Dai Li; Toph preparing for her Earthbending, Sokka getting ready to throw his boomerang, and Aang coming down from the sky for an aerial attack.

Most bystanders would say that, while the Dai Li had the advantage in numbers, Aang and his friends each had the iron-strong will to protect the people of Ba Sing Se. That alone, even with their stupendous abilities, simply didn't suffice. Everyone: Sokka, Toph, Aang, and Katara, were all beaten down by the Dai Li officers in a thirty minute struggle. Once contained, the group was distraught at being so easily overpowered, and they hung their heads in shame.

"Of course there's no way you can defeat us, Avatar; there is absolutely no way!" Long Feng laughed in a berserk fashion. "I would be mortified if a bunch of kids like you could beat us!" The cruel leader of the Dai Li suddenly stopped laughing. "For the first new law of my city, I decree that anyone who goes against me shall face execution! And no more of that pathetic talk about peace! Of course we will tell all of the people of Ba Sing Se about the world!"

While Long Feng had his little mini rant, Appa and Momo gathered Aang, Katara, Toph, Sokka, the Earth King, and Bosco, all of whom had been rendered unconscious, and loaded them onto Appa's back, rising up into the air, and flying them to safety...


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter Ten:

Six months had passed since the gang left Ba Sing Se, and seeing as the War waged on and on, six months was a long time. More and more refugees were heading to Ba Sing Se as the Earth Kingdom fell town by town, and, despite its massive size, was becoming overcrowded. Homeless shelters were completely swamped, and the Dai Li enforced new rules which decreed excess refugees had to stay in the Lower Ring. The streets were almost too full to walk down, and the palace gates were almost always flooded with protests and angered citizens; these, in turn, were dispersed and escorted elsewhere by the Dai Li, all of whom claimed there was nothing wrong, and Ba Sing Se was as pristine as ever.

While chaos ran amok in the Impenetrable City, 'Team Avatar' (as Sokka called it) had traveled to a remote island in the ocean. There, Aang practiced his bending day after day, practicing for hours on end without any breaks. The others were slightly worried about him becoming too tired; even the Earth King's bear was nervous, but Aang managed to stay his selfless self, and was as happy as he always was.

"Aang, are you sure you don't want to take a break? It's been five hours since you woke up, and even then it was only four in the morning! You've been practicing every day for the past five months; I think it's time you rested." Katara looked at her friend with a persuasive smile.

"I know you're only trying to help, but like the Monks taught me, there are always two ways to look at something. The second way is that I only have one month left to practice before we return to Ba Sing Se, and if I don't practice even harder, we won't be able to defeat the Dai Li!"

"Wait a minute; you're telling me that we're going to leave the island where no Fire Nation has attacked us for five months, fly in plain sight to Ba Sing Se, and then confront the very same people who destroyed us in the first place?" Sokka looked bewildered.

"Face it, Blondie; you knew he'd want to. Plus, we have to return Mr. Fancypants to the throne, along with his bear-friend." Toph turned her head to face Sokka, but ended up looking at Aang.

"Yes, Avatar, Bosco and I must return hastily to my city. I fear that if we are gone much longer the Dai Li will have too much power over the citizens."

Aang turned to face the king.

"We will, Your Majesty. In a month, on the full moon, we can return to Ba Sing Se. Then I'll be strong enough, along with everybody's help, to overthrow the Dai Li."

"Yeah! Go Team Avatar!" Sokka jumped off of the boulder he was sitting on.

"Wow," Toph slowly got up, and pushed Sokka onto the rock he had come from, "just… wow." Toph walked back to her seat.

Within a few hours, the moon began to glow, a small crescent shape becoming visible.

The moon was a complete sphere, the white light bouncing off of every surface in sight. The two Waterbenders in the group teamed up, using the rivers all around them to form massive waves. They shielded their limbs with water, using the cool liquid as any sort of item, be it a whip or stream, to attack the oncoming Dai Li. The officers were using all of the Earthbending they had been taught, and swiftly disarmed Sokka and the King, both of whom were trying to shout the Dai Li down. Toph did everything in her power to keep the extraneous benders out of the Waterbending-duo's way. She created small hills to confuse them, produced landslides to bury them, and even stuck one man in a hole twelve feet deep. Her face began to perspire, but her hands were too busy bending to do anything about it. She moved in full force, feeling more alive than she had ever felt before. After smashing officer upon officer for an hour, she began to smile, shouting, "Bring it on, Round-Hats, I got all night!"

The battle outside the Inner Wall lasted two full hours, agent upon agent being thrown out of power for good. As soon as the team could tell no more agents were coming, they managed to find Sokka, the King, and Bosco, and ran off into the city.

As the gates closed behind them, Appa took off with a thud, taking the entire force of good-doers on his back. He raced across the massive fortress-of-a-city, groaning only once as he did so. They eventually landed (after many minutes) right inside the palace walls, and were met by a small force of fifteen guards. They immediately sprang into action, warding off the entire force in less than five minutes. Four of the Dai Li retreated, and the group could only assume they were warning the others.

"Come on, Guys! Katara and Toph, take the Earth King to the throne room; I'll stay with Sokka to tell the city what's going on. As soon as you get inside, go out onto the King's balcony so the public can see that he is friends with us."

The team dispersed, half traveling up the massive staircase and into the palace, the other half climbing with them until they reached the balcony which overlooked the entire city. Katara and Toph were met by a massive force of Dai Li on their way to the balcony, but they stopped at nothing to rid their eyes of the all too familiar uniforms. As they did so, Bosco helped them, knocking two agents over with his girth.

"Go, Bosco, go!" the King cheered.

The duo next to him used their respective forms of bending to defend themselves, and after thirty minutes of fighting, had created a massive pile of aching and groaning Dai Li. They rushed passed them, and as they did, Toph kicked one who looked less hurt than she thought he should be. After she had, the group of four raced to the throne room, blasted the doors open, and rushed inside. The first thing they saw, however, was not to their liking. A force of one thousand Dai Li surrounded them, and Long Feng was sitting on the throne.

"Sokka, we need to round up every single citizen we can, tell them what's happening, and then get every Earthbender we can find to attack the rest of the Dai Li."

"OK, but how do we round up a city with thousands of people?"

"Simple," Aang smirked, "with Airbending."

The duo created a makeshift (as Sokka put it) 'make it louder thingy' and prepared to start their plan. Sokka inhaled as long as he could, and Aang followed him. Their plan was for Sokka to say the words, and Aang to send them across the city with his Airbending.

"Attention, Ba Sing Se. You are to immediately proceed to the palace! This is the Avatar speaking: please, go to the palace!"

They repeated this process five times, and during their third, they saw the swarms of people starting to form in the streets. After half of an hour, the square was teeming with people, and the pair started speaking again.

"My name is Aang, and I am the Avatar. The Dai Li, as I'm sure you know, have been controlling your city, but we are here today to end their reign of tyranny. In a few minutes, friends of mine will be out on that balcony above us," Aang pointed up, still keeping his eyes on the crowd, "and you will be able to see that the King is on our side. Thank you for listening to me speak. Now, keep your eyes on the balcony."

Minutes passed, and there was no sign of life from the balcony. The once silent crowd was beginning to whisper to each other, and Aang knew that if the King didn't show up soon, there'd be an uproar. He and Sokka waited, periodically assuring the crowd that the King would be there. As twenty, thirty, forty-five minutes had passed, Aang and Sokka had lost hope. The square, once like a river packed with Elephant-Salmon, was beginning to become barren. When it seemed like the whole populous had left, the thing they'd been waiting for all along happened.

Out from the corner of everybody's eyes, something was seen falling. As every single person who was outside turned to look, it was clear to them that a Dai Li agent had just been booted out of the King's throne room. His shouts were met with applause, and when he hit the pavement with a bone-crunching smack, the applause ended abruptly. Then, like the entire city was hoping would happen, the King walked out onto the balcony with Toph and Katara by his side. Toph created an earth wall as they stepped onto the balcony, and she stood her ground with a firm grasp as Katara and the King (and Bosco) rushed to the edge.

"Aang, there isn't much time; the Dai Li just keep coming at us! Get the Earthbenders, and hurry!" Katara looked worried, but she knew Aang understood.

"Earthbenders, join us! Use your powers to overthrow the people who have been lying to you for as long as you have been alive! Fight for justice, fight for freedom, fight for your rights!"

Aang threw his arm into the air, shooting a massive stream of water, air, and earth into the sky. After he had, the benders among the crowd below rushed up the stairs in a large stream, gleefully awaiting their chance to do what they'd been waiting to do for six months. Toph's wall came to the ground with a smash, but Aang used his Airbending to quickly come to her aid. Sokka joined the masses running to the throne room and Katara started lashing out in every direction with water. The Dai Li, still in gross masses, got into their signature formations, and solemnly destroyed their opponents. However, as the stream of civilians rushed in to meet them, they were quickly becoming outnumbered.

Of the thousands of Earthbenders who joined the fight, only a select few were masters. However, the sheer number of them was enough to still have the advantage. By their side, 'Team Avatar' used their skills in every way imaginable, and seeing as Aang had so much help, he didn't need to go into the Avatar State. After three hours of grueling battle, during which many people were killed, and even more people were injured, the Dai Li were defeated. Still on the throne, pleasantly watching the battle from a safe distance, Long Feng looked distraught. As some of the last agents were obliterated by the imposing 'army,' he attempted to escape. However, Toph had been done with every last agent in her area, and was able to spot the escapee. She angrily stomped her feet into the earth and moved her arms forcefully, producing a massive wave of moving rock. When it met Long Feng, he tried dodging it, but Toph placed heavy restraints on him before he could finish.

As the group of civilians and Aang's team realized that they had the victory, their eyes began to tear with joy (except for Toph, of course). The mob of people rushed out of the throne room and into the square, hugging and kissing anybody that they could find. As soon as the citizens had left the room, it was only the team and the King (and Bosco) who remained.

"Thank you, Team Avatar. I am eternally grateful for all of the services you have granted me. I will aid you completely with you quest against the Fire Nation, and will do everything in my power to return Ba Sing Se to a functioning and happy society." The King bowed down to them, and as he did, the team followed in his footsteps.

"Toph! Bow down to the King!" Aang whispered from the corner of his mouth.

"What? Oh!"

Once they had all stood up again, the King traipsed over to the balcony, and stood so everybody in the square could see him.

"Beautiful Ba Sing Se: I commend you for all of the effort you have put into this magnificent city, and I thank you all. Without the help of the Avatar and his companions, I would never have even lifted myself from my throne. We shall all be eternally thankful for what they have done, and we shall officially name this The Day of Team Avatar! Now, I will try my best to help everybody in the city to have equal pay and fortune, and really make sure we become what we always strived to be: Utopia."

The entire square cheered, and Team Avatar flew over them on Appa, Aang having previously blown on his Bison Whistle. As they did so, children everywhere clapped and cheered, wishing the strange people on the funny-looking animal farewell. The moon, which had been full during the entire battle, was already close to setting, and glimpses of the sun could be seen on the horizon. The group, practically engulfed with exhaustion, sank themselves deep into the fur of the Bison they were on, Momo chirping wildly in the background.

"Nice job, Team Avatar! If it's good enough for the Earth King, it's good enough for us!" he smiled gleefully.

"We're not telling you again, Sokka; we're not Team Avatar!" Katara scolded.

As Sokka turned to face his sister, Toph smiled, took her hand, and backhanded Sokka across the cheek.

"Gosh, Blondie, you never see 'em comin'."


End file.
